Customer Reviews

Cisco-Linksys AE1000 High-Performance Wireless-N Adapter

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(36)

 

 

I've been working to get the AE1000 (Windows 7-64) consistently connected to my E3000 router on N on 40Hz for over two weeks now. This is what I have learned:

1) If you are running Zone Alarm firewall software you need to uninstall it, not disable it, prior to running the AE1000 setup. If you do not the setup will indicate you are running wireless management software that is not compatible. You can reinstall Zone Alarm software after the AE1000 is setup.

2) All important wireless features work, including WAP2, MAC address control, and QOS.

3) I was able to get 250+ Mbs from one end of my house to the other with signal strength in the 50% to 70% range even through two walls and 50 feet away.

4) All the above dies after anywhere between 8 and 30 minutes, especially if there is significant throughput, like streaming music or video. The blue light on the AE1000 glows a steady blue and there is no connection to the router.

5) A reboot and reconnect works for a few minutes and then the connection to the AE1000 is dropped again.

6) Updating to the latest firmware for the AE1000 did not change things.

Other wireless N devices I have connect to the E3000 on N on 40Hz with no problems and maintain stable connections for days with not problem. I'm going to try the AE1000 on an XP Pro laptop to see if it is only a Windows 7 64 problem and will update this review at a later date.

Cisco-Linksys High-Performance Wireless-N AdapterTried using the AE1000 with an XP Pro laptop on 2.4Ghz G with no success. I've returned the AE1000 to Amazon for a replacement and hope it was a defective device.

I received a new AE1000 in one day from Amazon. This is the first time I've had to return a product I purchased from Amazon. I was very easy to get a replacement. This is my experience with the new AE1000:

1) The drivers were already installed and updated from the prior installation and Zone Alarm already "knew" about the device. I plugged it in to a 3 foot USB extension cable and it was immediately recognized.

2) I had MAC address control turned off and SSID Broadcast turned on. I made a wireless connection to my 5 Ghz network with WPA2 without a problem. Speed was 271 Mbps.

3) I turned on MAC address control after adding the MAC address for the AE1000 and the connection remained solid.

4) I have been showing 50% to 70% signal strength over a distance of about 125 feet and through two walls and one floor with a consistent 271 Mbps connection speed.

5) It's been up and running without a problem for 24 hours now.

Remaining things to check:

1) Does the connection survive a reboot without having to specifically reconnect to the network.

2) Can the connection be maintained with SSID turned off.

At this point I am changing by rating to 3 stars and will rate it higher if it continues to function well.

Update:

I have been able to establish a stable connection at 271 Mbps for 48 hours using WPA2, MAC Address Control and SSID broadcast off. It appears that the device I was initially using was defective. Amazon sent me a replacement device that appears to work with no problems.

The verdict is still out on this puppy. I haven't been able to get it installed and running. My problems are similar to those described in other reviews: Conflicts with other software controlling network and incompatability with my anti-virus program. I can't believe that Cisco hasn't thought about these very, very common situations and developed a fix. Like others, I have been told to uninstall my anti-virus program. I may do that, but am in no hurry. Customer support also seemed to struggle with installing the device under Windows 7. HELLO CISCO!!!!: Windows 7 ships on just about everything these days. Perhaps I will come back in a few weeks and sing the praises of this device, and the Cisco Router I purchased at the same time, but we will have to see. Beware.

I have been using this adapter for a couple of weeks now and it is doing a pretty good job considering the distance I am from the router. Living in the boonies, I have a rinky dink WiFi ISP with only a 1.5Mbs system. My computer is set up in another building about 100 feet from the house. The antenna adapter is outside the building and is connected via a 10 foot extension running through the wall to the computer inside. As you can see, this is not the most desirable setup. So I am asking a lot out of this adapter. My router, in the house, is a Linksys E3000 and is running two computers in there. I usually run the computer in the outbuilding on the 5GHz side and those in the house on the 2.4GHz. Actually, it's just the opposite of the way it should be run. But it works for me. Today I watched a 3 hour Internet movie on the computer in the out building with no drop-outs.
The one problem I have had with this I've also had with my other Linksys adapters, constant drop-outs. Aggravating drop-outs that produce that little white circle going round and round and round. After doing a whole lot of research on the net I did not find anything except a bunch of people putting down the Linksys products. Then I saw one article where a guy said that Linksys (Cisco) has been around for a long time and if they made inferior products they would not still be in business. That made a lot of sense. So, if the router is good and the adapter is good why the problems?
I started searching for the problem. I went to the Device Manager to see what I could find. First place I look is Network Adapters. It lists the AE1000 but also a Microsoft Wireless Router Module. Without getting any good answers searching the net I decided to Disable this. Kazaam! No more drop-outs. So I Enabled it again and the drop-outs were back. I Disabled it again and left it that way. I told a friend about it and he tried it but said it had no affect on his system. But his system is 10 times the Bandwidth I have and he's not had drop-outs to begin with. So I have been running now for over a week with a pretty good signal.
Today I am ordering two more AE1000s for those computers in the house. Oh, and one more thing. If you have an N type router and a G type Laptop put one of these on the Laptop and convert it to an N. You'll be amazed at the difference in speed.

I would steer clear of this one... high defect rate.

I could not get consistent speeds (over 13Mbps) no matter what I did.

I tried on two different computers - Win XP Home SP3 and Win7 Professional. Tried connecting to two different routers (DLink DGL-4500 and a Linksys). Reinstalled several times (although each install worked perfectly). Downloaded the most recent drivers from Linksys support. Nothing worked.

I was too late to return, so I tried to get Linksys to RMA... after two very long support calls with people who spoke poor english, they finally agree its defective... now must send back at my cost.

If you do decide to buy this, get it from amazon and test it immediately so you can just ship it back if it does not work.

This thing works GREAT! Opened the box, put in the install CD followed the prompts and was connected within 5 minutes at 300 Mbps. Internet speed tests indicate that this is as fast as my gigabit wired connection.

And yes if you don't know things like the difference between the router password and the network security key, you're going to have problems. But if you have even a basic understanding of network security this is a piece of cake to install and use.

If you have a wireless card in your computer you may need to go to Network and Sharing Center and disable this card.

I have been using this with a Linksys E3000, and performance has been fast and stable. Signal strength is consistently strong. Installation was easy, works seamlessly with Windows 7, and the included USB Extender/Stand makes it simple to position for optimal reception. Only nitpick is the flimsy stand.

I purchased this adapter along with a Linksys E2000 wireless router, I reasoned that the two, being manufactured by the same company would work well together. Not so. Despite Linksys's claim that this adapter ic ompatible with windows 7(64bit), it is not. I had the adapter in direct line-of-sight with the router and only about 40 feet away. When I had a signal it was strong, but the signal was constantly and annoyingly getting dropped. I did change the compatibility setting to Windows Vista(64bit) and that did help a little but the problem persisted. I finally checked Microsofts compatible hardware list and this adapter was not listed. I purchased an Asus PCE-N13 wires adapter which was listed on Microsoft's list of compatible Win 7 64bit hardware and bingo, problem solved instantly.

The adapter installed easily. It connected to my router easily. It failed to meet my expectations easily.

My PC isn't state of the art, but it's no slouch either. I am running Windows 7 Ultimate. When the adapter works, the internet is great. I use a desktop, so I can't vouch for its range, but I get a good, fast signal. When I am done using my PC, I don't want to use a ton of electricity, so I hit the sleep button and go on my merry way.

When I am ready to use it again, I wake it up to no internet. EVERY TIME. The adapter isn't recognized. I have to remove it, reinsert it, and wait for it to re-establish connection. I've had it for a month. I hate it. Tech support attempted to have me re-installed the driver. No luck. They pretty much gave up after that, and told me to RMA the product. I can either ship mine in and deal without ANY internet for who knows how long, or I can put the new one on my Credit Card, and let them both cross in the mail. AND......Cisco Linksys is making me pay to ship their defective adapter back to them.

Terrible product, terrible tech support, terrible customer service. That's the Cisco Linksys guarantee!

p.s. Now THAT'S why I saw so many Refurb models available when I bought a new one.

We have had this adapter for about two years now, connected to a Lynksys "G" 2.4 Ghz router and a Dell desktop computer, it performed wonderfully, but at only 54 MBPS which is acceptable for a "G" router. We bought this adapter knowing we would eventually upgrade to an "N" router unit which we did last week (D-link N 300+ Extreme Gigabit Gaming and large home Router). We hooked up the wireless adapter to our sons Acer desktop computer in the exact same place is it was hooked up to our old Dell desktop computer, (we also upgraded to a Sony VAIO laptop at the same time, so the Dell went to Best Buy recycle) and WHAM 130-300MBPS bursting, but with only one to two bars of signal strength through one wall from about 13 feet away from the new router (never had this problem with the "G" router located in the same location). Tried moving the USB base around the desk with no positive results. Held it up in the air and got it up to three bars, but that is not a workable solution. Tried all the settings that I have read on the Internet and on Amazon customer reviews with no positive results. All of our other wireless units (three laptops, WII, X-Box 360, Lexmart printer, and a Vizio Blu-ray player) receive "excellent" reception from the router, and all are further away from the router. With the exception of the printer (wireless "G"), all are getting at least 130 MBPS with all three laptops receiving bursts up to 300MBPS.

Went and bought a Belkin "Surf N share" wireless N-300 adapter, hooked it up and received five bars and between 130-260MBPS transmission rate (from behind the desktop computer in the desk storage, as the Belkin doesn't come with the USB base adapter). Stayed with the Belkin and put the Linksys away for a back-up.

Not sure why the reception went from excellent to fair at best with the new router and different computer, but that kind of performance is not acceptable when you pay as much as we did for this brand new two years ago. I gave it three stars because it performed so good with the "G" router, and it DID transmit between 130-300MBPS with the new router, only with poor signal strength.

We tried to make this work for 30 days and it just wasn't consistent. Sometimes it would work, and sometimes it would drop the connection and not reconnect. I would imagine if it had to receive a signal from 25 feet away and had to pass through 1 or 2 walls it would work. Unfortunately, the distance was about 75 feet and 4 walls away. And this one was called "high performance." Right! Download speeds were very slow when it worked. Wifi is not reliable unless you get a very strong signal (at least 4 bars out of 5). I ended up running an ethernet cable to the other computer and all problems are now history. Think twice before attempting wifi.